Hi! I am a senior, and I plan on majoring in biology/ botany with a minor in environmental science. I am extremely interested in plant science and human effects on environmental systems. I'm really looking for a small liberal arts university that's preferably in the northeast. My current top two schools are Middlebury and Bates. I applied for Prologue to Bates because it'd be my only chance to visit, and I'm a minority first-gen student.
However, after doing extensive research about each of these universities, I've found that their prices as projected on their NPC's are a bit unaffordable (Midd would be 5k including an additional 1k loan, and Bates would be 2k with a 1k loan). When I told my parents about this, they were really adamant about me not applying to either of those universities as we're poor enough as is. They absolutely refuse to let me take out any form of loan which is understandable but also extremely frustrating. I've managed to talk them into applying regular decision for both of those schools ( I was planning on doing E.D. for Bates), but now they're telling me that I should E.D. for Brown, which isn't really something I'm ok with. I'd be fine applying R.D. but I don't want to be bound to a school that I only have marginal interest in.
My biggest concern right now is being able to go anywhere given that my parents cant pay for college, and won't let me take out loans. They've told me 1k annually is basically their cap. And no loans. So far the only school I've found is Vassar.
I'm also applying E.A. at Umass Amherst, and R.D. at Temple just to see what kind of merit aid I can get.
I might apply at Brown and UPenn just to see if I could get accepted, and I'm applying at a local univ that I'm basically guaranteed admission to.
If anyone knows of good LAC's with great financial aid, please let me know. Also advice about Middlebury and Bates would be nice. My parents make 36k annually and I have a sister. I would love to go to either of those schools but I'm just super concerned about getting swamped in debt.
(My stats:
ACT: Superscore 34 One sitting 32.
SAT: 1460 with a 6-6-8 in writing
UW GPA:3.89
W GPA:4.137
Class Rank: 16 (Top 4%)
I'm taking 4 AP this year, the rest are either Honors and I have one block of an elective I need to take for me to graduate.
I'm co-president of my school's French Club, I'm a Section Leader in Marching Band, and I have a massive amount of other E.C.'s (Mostly Music.)
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